first appiontment at solicitors

walks

Help if any one can, I have recevied a letter from my husbands sol asking for divorce after two yrs he as always said he did not want one !!! When i asked why he had changed his mind he said that he was told the finaces cant be sorted till he is divorce is done, He also came out of there and purchased a better car when he said earlier that he was worried about buying another house or renting! To me this seems a little odd i have also been told as i am 5o soon i might be entiltled to more than 50/50 as we also have had a long marriage. so now i have to see a solictor tomorrow morning as a free half hr but now dont no what to ask can anybody help me as what i need to find out sorry its short notice but only just thought to ask what others thought i need to ask, I am realy scared about this and realy dont want to be ripped off but i dont want to rip him of either if you no what i mean. but getting a little sursipous.

sorry about spelling i am rushing hope you understand what i have wrote.

many thanks.

Bossyboots

If your solicitor is any good, they should leave you not needing to ask questions but really half an hour is very short for a first appointment so you may not cover enough ground.

You need to go armed with all the info you can. Is your husband working? Does he have a company pension? Do you own your own home? What mortgages/loans are set against it. If there are loans, are they in both names and what were they used for. Are you working? If not, is it possible for you to work? Do you have dependant children? If you are working, how does your salary and earning capacity compare to your husband's.

Have the answers to these written down so you can say straightaway and save some time. When you see the solicitor, information will just go out of your head. Having it written down will make it easier for you. If you don't know the answer to any of the questions just say so.

Are his solicitors proposing that you should initiate the divorce proceedings or is he going to? Your solicitor should discuss that with you.

Unless you already know, you should ask whether you would be entitled to legal aid. Your solicitor will be able to work that out for you on the spot if you take details of your income for the last month or proof of any benefits (income support, JSA) you are receiving.

As a general rule, there is a presumption of equality of 50/50 BUT this is then offset against past contribution into any property and the future needs of the parties. The 50/50 is therefore only a starting point and not a figure set in stone. It is actually rare for the split to end up on that balance. You would also be entitled to a share of his pension and this is an important aspect to cover if he has one.

Unless you and your husband can come to an agreement on the split of finances, you will both have to produce bank and other financial statements for at least the past year and items on those can be picked out and queried. This ensures that if one party has been squirrelling away money or buying luxury goods the other party can get an offset of their share to balance that expenditure. Be guided by your solicitor as to the fairness or otherwise of any agreement you can reach but don't let any benefit get eaten up in legal fees. Equally, don't let yourself get deprived of income/assets you might need.

walks

many thanks bossyboots for your quick reply,
I am realy not looking forward to this yes i have got all the answers i think to them questions, as it is free for this time i dought weather i will no if it makes any diffirence about my age or lenght of marriage,
just seams strange that all of a sudden he his now rushing everything apart from selling the house he said we should wait till after the divorce as if we sold it the solicitor would look after the money,
But also he dont after to look else where to live, there is not a lot left on the morgage now i think about two yrs and is cheaper than the rent that i am paying out , just wanted to no what questions to ask! but i doubt he will tell me much unless i am instructing him now.

trying to keep my cost down to as little as possiable.

many thanks again.

Prudent

I can't really add anything useful to Bossyboot's excellent advise, but want to give you some support.

If you find a good solicitor you will begin to feel better about things. One of the strange things about divorce is that it can devastate you at first, but in the end you come out a stronger person than you originally were.

us,thecat&thedebt

cant offer much advice but just wanted to say good luck and it will be ok...

my father in law is going through a divorce and the sol are lovely...

make sure u see if u are entitled to legal aid....

good luck

walks

As you know i went to the solictors last wk, He told me just to reply to his sol and say i agree to the divorce, he said he did not think there would be any problems it would run smoothly, and would not need him to act for me as to save me costs. Today i have recived another letter from his sol asking me to sign a notice of severance, stating for me to sign a form saying i dedesire to sever the joint tenancy and equity of our property !! I feel that there is something not right, does this mean i am giving him the right for him to keep the house, We would both like the house, any advice would be very welcome.

Prudent

Perhaps you need to go back to the solicitor with this. If both parties are agreeable it is not the divorce itself which presents the disput its the division of assets. You need to ensure that your legal rights are protected.

Bossyboots may reply to your post as she always gives good advice.

Bossyboots

I missed this earlier so sorry not to have replied sooner.

The notice of severance is standard procedure. In actual fact, the delivery of the notice should be sufficient for the severance to have taken place you do not really have to acknowledge it but obviously if you do they then have a record of you receiving it if you later on deny you did.

The notice of severance is to redefine your ownership of the property as tenants in common. This means that if either of you die, then the surviving spouse does not automatically acquire the full the property as they would do as joint tenants. This means both parties can leave their share to a person/persons of their choice. Obviously, if a couple are separated/separating this makes sense as few people in this situation would want their share to pass by survivorship.

It does not mean he has the right to keep the house. You still hold the property in exactly the same share as before, just not under the same inheritance terms. As part of your divorce, the exact share proportions will need to be worked out.

I would advise you to take the notice to the CAB or a solicitor to make sure that it is just a notice of severance and that nothing else has been included as I can only tell you the position based on what you have put and obviously I can't tell if you are being asked to sign away any rights if something else has been slipped in. It is unlikely that is the case as, as I say, this is a perfectly normal thing to do.

If it is not too long, you could perhaps type it all out here (leaving out names and addresses) or PM it to me.

walks

yes i think u may be right but i am trying to do what my solicter had said and do as much as i can my self to cut down on costs but this as thrown me and fear that cause i have not got sol they can run rings around me i have not heard of this before, I am thinking i best not reply to it untill i get more from his sol such as his disclosers i have sent mine in already but hubby said he aint bin asked for his i find this strange to i dont no it might just be me.

thanks to you all

walks

thank you bossyboots i will do as you have said as soon as i get chance many thanks

elster_2

hi,

don't want to hijack this thread but it seems like it's concluded, so rather than start a new one I'll tag a question on..

how about this situation (mine)

been married for 5 years, shared house (joint names) , i earn a fair bit, she earns (and has always earned not a lot), her contribution to house deposit was zero, no mortgage, house paid off now due to much hard work, some shared investments, savings etc
Am i doomed? if a settlement is based on contribution into the household then if we do go to solictors and stuff to sort it how would I fair? Dreading the whole thing to be honest...currently living apart